Northrop Grumman handed over the first of two protected communications payloads for the Air Force’s Enhanced Polar System, announced the company. EPS, which the Air Force intends to start operating in 2018, is designed to provide continuous secure, jam-resistant, strategic and tactical military communications in the north polar region, according the company’s Feb. 25 release. It will consist of two extremely high frequency payloads hosted on classified satellites, plus terrestrial terminals and a control and planning segment, states the release. The first payload leverages technologies that the company developed for the Air Force’s Advanced EHF satellite payloads. “Because EPS takes advantage of technologies we developed for Advanced EHF satellite payloads . . . we are developing these payloads at a fraction of the time and cost,” said Tim Frei, Northrop Grumman’s vice president for communication systems. EPS will replace the Interim Polar System currently on orbit and will serve as a polar adjunct to AEHF, states the release. EPS payload development began in 2008, said the company.
The Pentagon agency charged with building and operating U.S. spy satellites recently declassified some details about a Cold War-era surveillance program called Jumpseat—a revelation it says sheds light on the importance of satellite imaging technology and how it has advanced in the decades since.
